a smashing entry into the “dark romance” section – L’Express

a smashing entry into the dark romance section – LExpress

A very quiet week from June 24 to 30 – in terms of new items in our charts, that is. Only one entry in recent days, that of Chloé Wallerand with volume IV of her series Devil’s SonsPublished by Plumes du web (and HarperCollins for the paperback) since November 2022, his saga, accused of dark romance or of mafia romancehas already sold more than 370,000 copies according to Edistat.

Note that, just like Sarah Rivens, the author of Captivethe young novelist began writing on the Wattpad platform at the age of 14. Her Devil’s Sons take us to the University of Michigan with the young student Avelone who finds herself linked to the activities of a pagan gang in Michigan. With this smashing entry, Chloé Wallerand (34,200 followers on Instagram and 41,100 on Tik Tok) is hot on the heels of another queen of the genre, Morgane Moncomble, who has been leading the fiction charts for several weeks with her four volumes in her series Seasons (Hugo Roman).

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Otherwise, otherwise, the surprise of this quarter, the novel by Philippe Collin, The Ritz Bartender (Albin Michel) continues his victorious epic (third in the rankings). With the reputation of his successful podcasts (around Léon Blum and Louis-Ferdinand Céline) on France Inter, The journalist, keen on history, takes us back to the 1940s with Frank Meier, the central character bartender Austrian (and Jewish) from the famous palace on Place Vendôme.

It should be noted, in this regard, that Albin Michel, always quick to ride the wave of success, hastened to publish, under a very elegant cardboard cover, The Art of the Cocktail (The Artistry of Mixing Drinks), or the 420 or so cocktails of the famous Ritz barman with the thin moustache. Illustrated by Delius, this veritable guide to good manners in good company (at the time, Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Cocteau, Guitry and Cole Porter) and in average company (all the Nazi elite of the Occupation as well as Ernst Jünger, Sacha Guitry and Coco Chanel) offers a multitude of mixtures.

A chilling test

Other survivors of the wave of romanceThomas Schlesser, Camilla Läckberg Franck Thilliez, Tracy Chevalier, Joël Dicker, Jean-Baptiste Andrea, Hervé Le Tellier, Alain Damasio, Edouard Louis, Virginie Grimaldi, Guillaume Musso and the two prizewinners of the quarter, Camille de Peretti (The Unknown Woman in the Portrait, Calmann-Lévy) and Eric Chacour (What I know about youPhilippe Rey).

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On the testing side, very few changes as well. We will note the arrival in 12th place of JB Rives with Belly Fat. The Solution (Thierry Souccar éditions). What can we say about it? Let’s take the publisher’s summary: “Thanks to practical and scientifically based advice, you will know how to adapt your diet and lifestyle to eliminate deep visceral fat and skin fat. Without having to count your calories or weigh your portions. With or without sport.”

© / The Express

Furthermore, we should point out the presence for two weeks between 20th and 30th place of David Le Breton with The End of Conversation? Speech in a Spectral Society (Métailié). Signed by this professor of sociology at the University of Strasbourg, it is chilling as it paints a picture of a society (ours) glued to its small screens at the risk of breaking up social ties and destroying solidarity. “Never has the suffering of adolescents and the elderly reached such a level,” the sociologist emphasizes.

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